


Like a Dream

by DestinyFreeReally



Category: CSI: Miami
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 14:06:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13483053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinyFreeReally/pseuds/DestinyFreeReally
Summary: After Calleigh collapses after the fire. She's awake, and Eric's there, and Jake.... stops in? Very much Calleigh/Delko





	Like a Dream

     Calleigh couldn't remember feeling so tired in her entire life, and it had been a decade since she'd gotten a full eight hours of sleep. She couldn't remember a whole lot, actually. Blinking her eyes open, she recognized a hospital room, she recognized she was in a hospital bed. She remembered coughing, and Eric screaming that an officer was down. She remembered being the officer. There had been the fire- she remembered that, and she remembered Eric's voice talking to her, almost in a dream. Her eyes closed on her again, after just a glimpse around the room, and Calleigh fought them back open. There was something heavy on her wrist, like a bracelet or a...  _Watch._ She felt it with her fingertips, and tried to drag her arm up into her view. Everything  _hurt._ The watch was too big for her, and when she finally got her arm to cooperate, she recognized the watch- she remembered Eric's soft voice, from that dream. Was it a dream?  
  
     Slipping the fingertips of her left hand through the excess space in the band, Calleigh let herself relax, and gave in to the weight of her eye lids.   
  
     When she opened her eyes again, she felt someone's hands holding hers.   
  
     "Hey," Eric smiled, with his voice still soft. He loosened his grip on her fingers, and exhaled the breath he'd been holding for days waiting for her to wake up. He felt relieved. "As usual, Calleigh Duquesne performs a miracle, folks."  Ignoring the tear he felt slip down his cheek, Eric kept smiling down at her. "You scared me, Cal," he whispered.   
  
     Calleigh couldn't ignore the tear dangling from Eric's chin though, and brought her hand up to his face to smooth it away with her palm. Every breath she took felt like inhaling needles.   
  
     "After a decade of knowing me, you still doubt me?" She smiled uneasily, and then thought of something else. "I guess I blew that interrogation," she winced, remembering again, how it happened. She remembered fighting for her breath, and then watching the world shift far away from her.   
  
     Eric shook his head, "We're gonna get the guy that did this, Calleigh, I promise you," his tone sobered, and his grip tightened on her hand again.   
  
     "I'd love to help," Calleigh stretched her neck, everything feeling stiff, "but I think my eyes are going to close again, any second." She felt sorry for it, she  _wanted_ to stay awake but... "This isn't a dream, right?" Asking just to be sure, Calleigh watched Eric shake his head, smiling at her.   
  
     "Not a dream. Rest if you want to, I'll be right here the whole time, Calleigh; you're gonna be okay, okay?" Smoothing his palm through her hair, Eric bent a kiss to her temple. "I'm right here," he promised, seeing her run her thumb against the band of his watch.   


* * *

  
     When she woke up again, she felt more like herself. Stretching her arms, Calleigh realized Eric was asleep in the chair next to her bed- his head dangling at an angle that looked likely to break his neck.   
  
     "Eric..." she whispered, "Eric?" She tried again, this time getting him to stir. "Hey," she whispered, when his eyes focused.   
  
     Thousand watt smile beaming at him, and that was when Eric knew Calleigh really was going to be okay.   
  
     "Hey yourself," he answered sleepily, grinning and leaning forward to her, when a knock on the door interrupted.   
  
     Jake Berkeley cleared his throat, standing in the doorway of the hospital room, waiting for an invitation inside. Eric looked from Jake to Calleigh, and saw her smile had dimmed. But she met his eyes and gave him a tiny nod.   
  
     "I'll uh, go get a cup of coffee, okay?" Eric double-checked with Calleigh, as Jake shuffled his way to the otherside of Calleigh's hospital bed.   
  
     With some effort, she was able to sit up higher in the bed, propped up with hospital pillows, and she smiled at Eric when he looked back at her on his way out.   
  
     "Is it a stupid question to ask how you are?" Jake asked, putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans.   
  
     "Not at all," Calleigh smiled softly, and smoothed hair behind her ears. "Apparently it was a little touch-and-go for awhile there, but I'm really feeling much better now."  _Much better_ was a relative term, she figured, but she figured she was being truthful. "Why are you here, Jake?" She prompted, after a few seconds of heavy silence between them.   
  
     "I just... I just wanted to see that you were alright, Calleigh." Eyes catching on the men's watch on her delicate wrist, Jake exhaled a breath. "I'm glad you're out of danger." When Jake went back undercover, he reassured himself that Calleigh understood. That Calleigh Duquesne, of all people, understood prioritizing work over all, over self. "Did I hear that you, um, risked your life for a DB?" He smiled crooked at her, half-teasing like they were back in the academy.   
  
     "For  _evidence,"_   Calleigh clarified, and she stood by that call.   
  
     Eric sipped his coffee, stale and cheap from the coffee machine, and walked slow back to Calleigh's wing. He's seen Jake Berkeley's routine before, and he knew Calleigh had, too, so he wasn't sure why he was worried. Getting closer to her door, Eric heard the two laughing and remembered exactly why.   
  
     The laughter tapered off, and Jake looked down at Calleigh's wrist, again.   
  
     "You know, Calleigh, I could've been the guy that waits for you to wake up in the hospital. I could've been him," Jake said, running his thumb along Calleigh's hand.   
  
     Outside, Eric couldn't help but overhear, and he couldn't help but hold his breath.   
  
     "I know that," Calleigh said, reassuringly, and took a deep breath. "I know you  _could've_ , Jake, but you chose not to be him." She nodded, and hoped he knew that she understood.   
  
     "And Eric chose to be here," Jake offered, letting Calleigh's pinky slip between his fingers.   
  
     Feeling her wrist still heavy with Eric's watch, Calleigh nodded again, smiling.   
  
     "You know, for him I think it's less of a choice," she said gently, feeling grateful for Eric Delko.   
  
     Eric smiled, and exhaled a sigh. Calleigh was going to be okay, and  _they_ were going to be okay, so he took another sip of his bad coffee, and kept smiling to himself. 


End file.
